Research on thermal comfort and indoor air pollution in a passenger car

Abstract

The poor prediction and evaluation of the thermal comfort state inside a passenger car are caused by these environment's main features, determined by the indoor conditions. The interior environment's thermal unevenness associated with different local speed values and air temperature, solar radiation and radiant heat flow caused by interior surfaces, lead to a difficult determination of the comfort criterion. The interior climate is influenced by transitional thermal conditions. The differences in psychological and physical nature between the passengers underline even more those delicate aspects. Thus, the interior environment is affected by numerous parameters which include: different temperatures of surfaces and the inside air, air speed distribution in a complex geometry, relative humidity, solar radiation intensity and its reflection on different types of material, clothing types, etc. This paper approaches the thermal comfort evaluation in a passenger car on an experimental way, through questionnaires related to indoor pollution.